We are nearing the end of the month which means it’s time for my monthly wellness roundup post. I usually post these on the last Wednesday of each month but the focus for the month of May took up the entire four weeks so I decided to post it today. If you’re not familiar, every Wednesday of each month I write a wellness/wellbeing post that’s centered around self-development and motivation. I also focus on a specific topic for the month. Last month’s topic was Growth and for this month my topic was centered around Aggressively Editing Your Life: A Four Part Series. I thought it would be a great idea to do a round up post at the end of the month which entails me providing the highlights from the topics I wrote about each week for that particular month. Consider it a one stop shop if you will, for those who may have missed a Wednesday post, or if you need a refresher or a boost to help you get through.
For the month of May I essentially wrote a step by step guide to help us get through a worksheet that I created back in December. Each week I discussed the purpose of each section and I gave examples and encouraged anyone who’s interested in participating to take the entire week to work on each section. The topics I covered were: The State of Uncertainty, The State of Clarity, Goal Setting, and Making Strides. Below are the highlights from each of the following weeks.
AGGRESSIVELY EDIT YOUR LIFE: THE STATE OF UNCERTAINTY In order to reach your goal, I felt it necessary to go through a few key steps. All too often some of us make goals that we hardly ever achieve, unless we are held accountable or have a tool that keeps us accountable (e.g. my worksheet). So the first step in aggressively editing your life which will be our focus for this week is The State Of Uncertainty. The State of Uncertainty asks; Where are you at in your life right now? We have to ask ourselves this question before we determine where it is we want to be, even if you have an idea of where you want to be, in order to get there, you have to go through the necessary steps. For this week, I want you to spend the week responding to this question. Use the (free) worksheet that I’ve provided below and do a brain dump of everything that comes to mind (especially if it’s negative).
You’re essentially working through a list, and it can be as long (or as short) as you want it to be. Just be sure that it’s packed with information that thoroughly describes how you feel and what you’re going through. This will not work if you half-ass it. Since you have an entire week, don’t feel pressure to get this all done in one night.
AGGRESSIVELY EDIT YOUR LIFE: THE STATE OF CLARITY This week’s focus will be The State of Clarity. At this stage we’re asked Where do I want to be in life? Based on the factors you wrote down last week, maybe some of your responses to the question will be:
- Developing a more positive mindset
- Enrolling in school
- Working on your finances
- Maybe you want to work on being more confident
- Or all the above
This can be anything you want to do (even the things that you’re afraid to share with people). The sky is the limit and your list is the exclusive VIP ticket. Yesterday I was on social media and a friend posted that she created a list of things she wanted to manifest. Some examples of what she has on her list are making $125k a year, buying a second house, getting a certification, etc. right next to each of these items she wrote “and so it is.” She had a list of five things and so far she has manifested three out of those five items.
AGGRESSIVELY EDIT YOUR LIFE: GOAL SETTING I took an interesting approach with this step because it’s not typically what people would do when they choose to set goals. I’ll be transparent, I mentioned during the first and second week that I created the worksheet back in December, and after reviewing it (nearly six months later) I asked myself, why did I take that approach with goal setting? But you all know I like a challenge so I’m putting my own spin and approach on what goal setting looks like.
Often times when we set goals we create a list of 3-5 things that we want to work on but my approach is similar to a root cause approach. When you set goals that you don’t accomplish, what are some reasons for not accomplishing those goals? Two things that come to mind are potential barriers; sometimes we don’t identify them before we choose to set goals. Another would be working towards eliminating those barriers before we start to set goals. Look at it this way, maybe you want to go back to school but financially you’re not in the position to do so, but you may still add it to your list of goals because you want to find a way to make it work (and maybe you can) but if you don’t, it was yet another goal on your list that went unaccomplished.
AGGRESSIVELY EDIT YOUR LIFE: MAKING STRIDES For the final week of this series, we’re going to start Making Strides. At this stage you’re asking yourself; What takes priority? from the list you created last week. I called this section Making Strides because this is where you’ll start to see the fruits of your labor and start to set achievable goals. Take as long as you need to work on this list because it’s your top 5. Keep in mind, that the list should include goals that you can accomplish based on any potential barriers you’re capable of eliminating at the moment (not the barriers you can’t get to until several months or years from now).
You don’t want to do too much all at once and if you feel a top 5 will be too over zealous or too much to take on, you can scale back and work on the others after you’ve accomplished the first 2 or 3. I want to encourage the follow through. If you want to work on self-confidence by going to therapy, a first step would be to go through your insurance company to see who takes your insurance, or researching therapists online. It’s all about doing what works best for you to make sure you accomplish the goals to start seeing the changes you want to make in your life.
If you’re interested but missed the entire series, here’s the WORKSHEET, it’s never too late so there’s always time. Let’s chat! Let me know if you saw the benefit in the series.
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